Taylor Mali
| birth_place = New York City, New York | death_date = | death_place = | occupation = poet, teacher, voice actor | nationality = American | period = | genre = | subject = | movement = Slam Poetry | notableworks = What Learning Leaves | spouse = Marie-Elizabeth Mundheim | partner = | children = | relatives = | influences = Billy Collins, Saul Williams, Walt Whitman, Rives, Mary Oliver, Naomi Shihab Nye | influenced = | awards = | signature = | website = | portaldisp = }} Taylor McDowell Mali (born March 28, 1965) is an American slam poet, humorist, teacher, and voiceover artist.[http://www.audiofilemagazine.com/reviews/showreview_pub.cfm?Num=12862/ Review of The Great Fire], AudioFile Magazine, Jun/Jul 2003Slam Poet's Muse is Teaching, Stacey Hollenbeck, Teacher Magazine, July 18, 2007Day Job: Teacher, Night Job: Poet, Instructor, Sep/Oct 2007, Vol. 117 Issue 2, p. 9 Life A 10th-generation native of New York City, Taylor was 1 of 4 children of children's book author Jane L. Mali,Obituary: Jane L. Mali, New York Times, October 7, 1995. a recipient of the American Book Award, and H. Allen Mali, vice president of Henry W.T. Mali & Co., manufacturers of pool table coverings. He is the great-great-grandson of John Taylor Johnston, founding president of the Metropolitan Museum of Art. Mali graduated from the Collegiate School, a private school for boys, in 1983. He earned a B.A. in English from Bowdoin College in 1987, and an M.A. in English and creative writing from Kansas State University in 1993. He also studied drama with the Royal Shakespeare Academy at Oxford. In 1993, he married Rebecca Ruth Tauber, who died in 2004. On May 13, 2006 he married Marie-Elizabeth Mundheim,Vows: Marie-Elizabeth Mundheim and Taylor Mali, New York Times, May 28, 2006. a high school friend. Teaching Mali spent 9 years teaching English, history, and math, including stints at Browning School, a boys' school on the Upper East Side of New York City, and Cape Cod Academy, a K-12 private school on Cape Cod, Massachusetts. He lectures and conducts workshops for teachers and students all over the world. In 2001, he used a grant from the New York Foundation for the Arts to develop the 1-man show "Teacher! Teacher!" about poetry, teaching, and math. He is a strong advocate for the nobility of teaching and in 2000 he set out to create 1,000 new teachers through "poetry, persuasion, perseverance, or passion." As of January 13, 2012, he has 891.The Quest for 1,000 New Teachers Poetry As a slam poetry performer, Taylor Mali has been on seven National Poetry Slam teams; six appeared on the finals stage and four won the competition (1996 with Team Providence; 1997, 2000 and 2002 with Team NYC-Urbana). Mali is the author of What Learning Leaves and the Last Time as We Are (Write Bloody Publishing), has recorded four CDs, and is included in various anthologies. Poets who have influenced him include Billy Collins, Saul Williams, Walt Whitman, Rives, Mary Oliver, and Naomi Shihab Nye. He is perhaps best known for the poem "What Teachers Make." He appeared in Taylor Mali & Friends Live at the Bowery Poetry Club and the documentaries "SlamNation" (1997) and "Slam Planet" (2006). He was also in the HBO production, "Russell Simmons Presents Def Poetry," which won a Peabody Award in 2003. Taylor Mali is the former president of Poetry Slam Incorporated, and he has performed with such renowned poets as Billy Collins and Allen Ginsberg. Although he retired from the National Poetry Slam competition in 2005,Aptowicz, Cristin O'Keefe. (2008) Words in Your Face: A Guided Tour Through Twenty Years of the New York City Poetry Slam. "Taylor Mali: The Man, The Myth, The Industry" page 266. Soft Skull Press, 288. ISBN 1-933368-82-9. he still helps curate NYC-Urbana Poetry Series, held weekly at the Bowery Poetry Club. Recognition Awards * 1996, 1997, 2000, 2002 - National Poetry Slam winning team * 2001 - U. S. Comedy Arts Festival jury prize for best solo performance, "Teacher! Teacher!" * 2003 - AudioFile Earphones Award for The Great Fire. Publications Poetry *''What Learning Leaves''. Newtown, CT: Hanover Press, 2002. ISBN 1-887012-17-6 **also published as What Learning Leaves: A collection of poetry. Austin, TX: Write Bloody, 2013. *''The Last Time as We Are''. Nashville, TN: Write Bloody, 2009. *''What Teachers Make: In praise of the greatest job in the world''. New York: Putnam, 2012. *''Bouquet of Red Flags''. Austin, TX: Write Bloody, 2014. Except where noted, bibliographical information courtesy WorldCat.Search results = au:Taylor Mali, WorldCat, OCLC Online Computer Library Center Inc. Web, Oct. 21, 2015. Audio / video Audio CDs * The Difference Between Left & Wrong, 1995 *''Poems from the Like Free Zone'' (CD). New York: Words Worth Ink, 2000. *''Conviction'' (CD). Wordsmith Press, 2003. *''The Great Fire'' (with Jim Murphy; CD; juvenile). Northport, ME: Audio Bookshelf, 2003. *''Icarus Airlines'' (CD). York?: Words Work Ink, 2008. Except where noted, discographical information courtesy WorldCat. See also *Slam poets *List of U.S. poets *Bowery Poetry Club References Notes External links ;Poems *Poems online ;Audio / video * *"What Teachers Make" at TED *Taylor Mali at YouTube *Taylor Mali profile, Famecast web site *Podcasts of poems *Watch Taylor Mali recite his poems at Open-Door Poetry *Audio of "What Teachers Make," "Like Lilly Like Wilson," "The Entire Act of Sorrow," "Depression Too Is a Kind of Fire," "Holding Your Position," "For the Life of Me," and "How To Write a Political Poem" (among others) on Indiefeed Performance Poetry Channel ;Books *Taylor Mali at Amazon.com ;About *Taylor Mali Official website * Category:Slam poets Category:Collegiate School (New York) alumni Category:Bowdoin College alumni Category:Living people Category:1965 births Category:American poets Category:Spoken word poets Category:21st-century poets Category:English-language poets Category:Performance poets Category:Poets